1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lights that are used to provide low level illumination in a room or passageway during the night, and more particularly to a night light assembly which provides a focused bean of light from an incandescent bulb or an LED that can be easily and selectively oriented from a rotatable assembly to shine in different directions and to an improved power supply circuit for an LED.
2. Description of the Related Art
Night lights which can be plugged into wall receptacles are normally used to provide low level illumination in a dark room or hallway. When used in a bedroom, a night light can provide sufficient light to allow a person, upon waking, to move about the room without banging into furniture, a doorway or such and still provide an ideal environment for sleeping. Where the bedroom is a child's nursery, a minimum amount of light in usually desirable. Very young children are often fearful of complete darkness and, in addition, should a parent wish to check on the sleeping child without turning on the room light, a low intensity night light that is continuously on is most useful and desirable.
The conventional night light consists of an electrical assembly having an electrical socket integrated with a plug for insertion into a wall receptacle. A low wattage lamp is held in the socket and a small translucent shade is usually provided to shield the lamp from direct view. A night light of this type normally uses a low wattage incandescent lamp which provide low level illumination. Light from the shielded bulb is normally reflected off an adjacent wall surface into the room to provide localized illumination that is purely utilitarian in function. The light is neither focused nor directionally controllable.
The patent to Victor, U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,001 illustrates a night light assembly which allows light from a small wattage lamp within the fixture to pass through a lens into the room. The beam of light emitted from the assembly can be directed by grasping and rotating a member containing a lens.
In the foregoing patent, the night light assembly has a stationary lamp which is positioned traverse to the rotational axis of the rotatable lens and, therefore, the filament of the lamp is not centered with the lens. With this arrangement, the base of the lamp interferers with and blocks reflected light from passing through the lens. In addition, the stationary lamp is hard wired to a PCB board that in turn is mechanically fastened to the prongs of the plug which not only increases the cost of manufacture of the assembly, but prevents the bulb from rotating with the head member.
A rotatable night light assembly that can direct a focused beam of light in different directions from a lamp aligned along the rotational axis of the lens to provide increased illumination, that is of a simple design and can be manufactured and sold at a relatively low cost is clearly desirable.
LED's are becoming more popular in residential and commercial lighting. Recently LED's have been used in night lights. As LED's operate at low DC voltage and low current, the power supply circuit for an LED typically uses resistor current limiting circuitry. The use of a resistor in the power supply circuit has the disadvantage of generating heat and not being the most efficient. What is needed is a power supply circuit for an LED that produces less heat and is more efficient.